Work bus?

[pete c-SKO]

A friend of mine has a landscaping business. Actually, he does very little landscraping anymore. 90% of his business is installing playscapes. Not little back yard jobs, but, big ones you see at elementary schools and parks.

Quite often his work may be 100 miles from home or close to it. He usually has 2/3 workers with him. I've told him for a few years now, dude, you really need a skoolie. It could serve as work shop, tow vehicle and bunkhouse on those jobs further away.

I am guessing that the perfect rig for him would be a doghouse style 35-40 footer or maybe FE flatnose. Ideally, some sort of rear draw bridge setup would be perfect kind of like elliot has. This would make access to the work shop easy and make it easier to load wheel barrows, concrete bags, etc...

What would really be cool is if he raised the roof a bit and built a really sturdy draw bridge, it could serve as a skid steer carrier. This would save him from having to tow a big heavy trailer. His skid steer weighs in somewhere around 5-6K pounds.

Will a skoolie handle that sort of weight perched right above the rear axle? Figure in another ton or two of equipment.

There wouldn't be much else in there other than a shower, toilet and a pair of bunks.

I guess he'd want to go with the heaviest frame out there, probably a BB AA along with the biggest baddest diesel out there. An mt643 would also be mandatory for dragging that much stuff, or maybe a 5-6 speed. But, I think he'd rather stay with the auto rather than have to feed it clutches because his knucklehead workers can't drive.

I suppose in the end, he'd stick with the trailer since, he already has it and the thoughts of what would happen in an accident when you got a 3 ton machine sitting behind you aren't pleasant.

 

[M1031]

A friend of mine has a landscaping business. Actually, he does very little landscraping anymore. 90% of his business is installing playscapes. Not little back yard jobs, but, big ones you see at elementary schools and parks.

Quite often his work may be 100 miles from home or close to it. He usually has 2/3 workers with him. I've told him for a few years now, dude, you really need a skoolie. It could serve as work shop, tow vehicle and bunkhouse on those jobs further away.

I am guessing that the perfect rig for him would be a doghouse style 35-40 footer or maybe FE flatnose. Ideally, some sort of rear draw bridge setup would be perfect kind of like elliot has. This would make access to the work shop easy and make it easier to load wheel barrows, concrete bags, etc...

What would really be cool is if he raised the roof a bit and built a really sturdy draw bridge, it could serve as a skid steer carrier. This would save him from having to tow a big heavy trailer. His skid steer weighs in somewhere around 5-6K pounds.

Will a skoolie handle that sort of weight perched right above the rear axle? Figure in another ton or two of equipment.

There wouldn't be much else in there other than a shower, toilet and a pair of bunks.

I guess he'd want to go with the heaviest frame out there, probably a BB AA along with the biggest baddest diesel out there. An mt643 would also be mandatory for dragging that much stuff, or maybe a 5-6 speed. But, I think he'd rather stay with the auto rather than have to feed it clutches because his knucklehead workers can't drive.

I suppose in the end, he'd stick with the trailer since, he already has it and the thoughts of what would happen in an accident when you got a 3 ton machine sitting behind you aren't pleasant.

I concur on the trailer - avoid heavy machinery in a skoolie at all costs!!! The chassis is strong enough to PULL a trailer but not enough to HAUL a Bobcat over the axle. In an accident (traffic or loading/unloading) it's much safer to have a heavy piece of equipment outside the vehicle instead of inside squishing anything in its way.

My bus has a fully functioning 500 lb (estimated) handicap lift to help me load big, bulky things into it. Keep an eye out for these kinds of busses (they're cheap at auction, especially the Fords for some odd reason here in TX).